Warp yarn stop motion for carpet looms



May 17, 1960 H. A. BATTY 2,936,795

WARP YARN STOP MOTION FOR CARPET LOOMS Filed Oct. 14, 1957 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 mvcwrons: HARRY A. BATTY JAMES J. HIGGINS ATTY.

May 17, 1960 H. A. BATTY ETAL 2,936,795

WARP YARN STOP MOTION FOR CARPET LOOMS Filed Oct. 14, 1957 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTbRS HARRY A. BATTY .1 MES J.HIGGINS May 17, 1960 H. A. BATTYY EIAL WARP YARN STOP MOTION FOR CARPET LOOMS 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Oct. 14, 1957 FIG. I5.

I I/ /6/ /8Z mvem'onsz HARRY A. BATTY JAMES J. HIGGINS avfifipu.

ATTY.

May 17, 1960 H. A. BATTY ET L 2,936,795

WARP YARN STOP MOTION FOR CARPET LOOMS Filed Oct. 14, 1957 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 A56 I" I"- 7 HIIIIII" 1: HI

INVENTORS AP- HARRY A. BATTY JAMES J. HIGGINS vsfi'b.

ATTY.

2,936,795 Patented M y 17,

WARP YARN sror MOTION FOR CARPETLOOMS Harry A. Batty, Lexington, and James J. Higgins, Buena Vista, Va., assignors to James Lees and Sons Company, Bridgeport, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application October 14, 1957, Serial No. 689,874

15 Claims. Cl. 139-355 trical sensing element on the reed or on the harnesses, but 1 such devices have notprovedto be workable for one reason or another; It has beenfoundthat a stop motion for the pile yarnllocated betweenthe cradle orjumbo and the beam is not sufiiciently sensitive to detect a broken or-slack-encl in an .area beneath-the shed or between the heddles .and the fell; Stop motions incorporatedin the harnesses-themselves are subjectto vibration and excessive wear which frequently cause stopping of the loom without a broken end occurring. p p

The present inventionovercomes these disadvantages and provides a simple, eflicient stop motion for thepile yarn. ends postioned immediatelyv adjacent the pile yarn heddles. a Y

.. A primary objectof the invention, therefore, is topro-,

vide an improved stop motionifor the pile yarn in a car.- 1

pet loom. 1 I A furtherobjectof the inventionis to provide an improveddevice for sensing insufiicient tension in the yarn ends of a carpet loom. f a

A still further object of the a seriesof secondary stop motionheddles which are not oscillated the fullshed forming distance. 1 A still further object of the'i 'vention is to provide a slotted heddle whichfunctions as a drop wire and is positioned adjacent the harnesses so that the top of the slot in the heddle is normally held slightly .below the uppermost boundary of the shedand elevated by the yarns forming the shed at the time a testing circuit .is'cOn'dik? A still further object of, the invention-is to provide ,a drop wire type of stop motion for the wool comprising a series-of slotted heddleslocated'either' between the reed and the front harness'or adjacent the back harnessof theloom. 1" .v

.A still further object of the invention is to provide an improved electrical testing circuit capableof sensing a brokenor slack end regardless of. whether the draw is .one or'multiple ends per stoptmotionheddle or drop wire.

'- Further objects willbeapparent from the specification and drawings in which 7 Fig.1 is a schematic sectional view showing a portion ora carpet loom having the present invention incorporated therein between the frontharness and the, reed,

'Fig.-2.is-a .viewofthe shed-forming mechanism of Fig.

1 but having a draw heddle, t

. Fig. 3 isan enlarged fragmentary view of the of Fig. 1 as seenjat 3-3 of Fig. 1,' I r Fig. 4 is a top view of the structure of Fig. 3,

f Fig. 5 is a sectional'detail-as seenat,55 of Fig. 4,

apparatus invention is to provide Fig. 6 is a sectional detail as seen at 6-6 of Fig. 4, Fig. 7 is a view of the preferred form of stop motion heddle as shown in Fig. 3, j v

Fig. 8 is a circuit diagram for the electrical sensing mechanism, Fig. 9 is a schematic View of a loom having the stop motion heddles located in back of the warp harnesses and using a somewhat modifiedstop motion heddle, i Fig. 10 is a 'view of the structure of Fig.9 as seen at 10-10,

Fig. 11 is a top view of the structure of Fig. 10, 7 Fig. 12 is an enlarged sectional detail as seen at 1212 of Fig. 10, Y Fig. 13 is an enlarged sectional detail as seen at 13-13 of Fig. 10,

Fig. 14 is a view similar to Fig. 7 showing the stop motion heddles of Fig. 10, and a j a Fig. 15 is a circuit diagram of the apparatus shown in Figs. 9-13.

The invention comprises essentially the provision of a slotted heddle through which one or more of the face pile yarns are threaded and located in a position closely adjacent the conventional pile yarn harnesses. 'In the preferred form the stop motion heddles are equipped with 'a slotted contact element which normally rests on a transverse el ectric al contact bar. When a pile harness is in its top position the yarns carried by this harness will slightly elevate the stop motion heddles from the contact bar at which pointa sensing-circuit is conditioned. In the event all the stop motion heddles are raised, the loom continues in operation. If, however one or more of the heddles is not raised from the contact bar by the pile ends threaded therethrough, a circuit is completed to de-energize a relay and stop the loom. Likewise, in the preferred. form, a cable is threaded through a bottom portion of the slot in each heddle to maintain them in alignment, and they, are equipped with extension elements to prevent improper hanging up. Where more than a single pile yarn is threaded through each stop motion heddle an additional sensing circuit may be used, ,and this is also desirable where two harnesses work in unison.

In another form the stop motion heddle is located in back of the rear harness and is equipped with a slotted extension through which a fixed guide bar is threaded. For the purposes of the present description the sensing elements which detect the broken or insufficiently taut pile warps are referred .to as: stop motion heddles. Structurally 'these elements resemble heddles butthey function in the manner of conventional drop wires.

-.Referring now more particularly to the drawings, a

conventional loom incorporates, a pair of binder chain of'two pile yarn ends per stop motion harnesses 20 and 21 through which the binder warps 22 and 26 are drawn. The wool or pile yarn harnesses 24- and 25 carry the pile yarns 23 and'27 respectively. 3 A loom equipped with thepres ent invention also has the conventional lay 28 having a reed 29 which beats the filling shots, not shown, up against the fell 30 of the fabric C. The woven carpet is drawn over breast plate 31 by means of a pin take-up roller 32 in accordance with standard practice. In the showing of Fig. -1 each of the series of pile yarns 27 drawn through harness 25 is also drawn through the slot 35 of stop motion heddle 36. This heddle (Fig. 7) is equipped with a slotted plate 37 having a tapered upper extremity 38. The bottom 41 (Fig. 6) electrically connected to conductor 42 through.

a bolt 43, nut 44, and washers 45. A suitable dielectric V conjunction with the heddles associated with pile yarns 26. The heddles are kept in alignment and under control at the bottom by means of a cable 50 stretched tautly between frame elements 51 and 52 of the loom by means of eye bolts 53, 53 and nuts 54, 54. In operation, it will be understood that as harnesses 25 and 24 reverse their positions from top to bottom, thereby forming the warp shed, the heddles 36 normally rest on their associated elements 40 so that the biased upper termini 38, 38 of the slots in plates 37, 37 make electrical contacts between strips 41, 41 and the housing 48 48. However, during this part of the cycle a conditioning circuit, to be described later, is held open. When harness 25, for example, is elevated to its top position, as shown in Fig. 1, the yarns 27 passing through the eye 35 of heddles 36 elevate the heddle and break and hold open the electrical contact between plates 37, 37 and strips 41, 41. At this point the conditioning circuit is closed and, should there be no unelevated heddle 36, the stop mechanism fails to function. However, in the event there is more than a predetermined slack in one of the yarn ends 27 or if one of the ends is broken, the circuit will be completed due to the failure of a heddle 36 to rise, thus stopning the loom. The operation of the second row of heddles 36 through which pile yarns 26 are threaded is identical but works in opposite relationship because there are only two pile yarns harnesses in the showing of Fig. 1. Where more than two pile yarn harnesses areused as shown in Fig. 2, there may be a condition in which it is desired to operate the harnesses in pairs so that pile yarn harnesses 60 and 61 work together, pile yarn harnesses 62 and 63 work together, and binder warp harnesses 20 and 21- work oppositely in the same manner as shown in Fig. 1. Under these conditions we draw the pile yarns'64 and 65 carried by harnesses 60 and 61 through the slots of stop motion heddles 66 and 67 respectively. It will thus be apparent that heddle 67 carries two pile yarns, namely 65 and 68, whereas" heddle 66 carries two pile yarns 64 and 69. Figs. 3 and 4 show in somewhat greater detail the construction of the contact elements 40 and their relation to the loom structure. Each element 40 is anchored in a loom bracket 75 and 76 by means of setscrews 77, 77. The brackets 76- are in turn secured to portions ofthe loom frame 78 by means of capscrews 79, 79. In actual practice the plates 37 on the heddles are turned approximately 30" from the long slots 35 as shown in Fig. 7, but this detail is omitted from the showing in Fig. 3 in the interests of clarity.

Referring now to'Fig. 8, the electrical sensing circuit for the construction shown in Figs. l4 comprises a 7 lower 105. This cam makes one revolution for every oscillation of the harnesses 24 and 25.

Where the loom is drawn as shown in Fig. 1, a second or sequence cam 106 is employed because all of the heddles 40 are not elevated at the same time. It, therefore, becomes necessary to test the groups of heddles of the front and rearsets independently. Sequence cam 106 is so timed that lead 107 will be grounded through a double throw switch 108' only" when one set of heddles is raised.

, so that the ground circuit is conditioned through either source of high voltage electrical energy connected to a transformer 86 through switch 87. High voltage leads 88 and '89 are tapped into the lines between switch 87 and transformer 86 to-supply current to the loom motor 90, The low tension side of transformer 86 connects with a start and stop switch 91 having a start button 92 and a stop button 93. Leads 88 and 89 are carried through two sets of contacts of triple contact relay 94 and the remaining contacts of relay 94 serve as a holding circuitfor the relay through leads 95 and 96. In starting, the loom start switch 92 is closed, thereby completing a circuit to coil 97 of relay 94 through leads 96, 98, and 99. This energizes relay 94 to close all three sets of contacts thereof'starting motor 90 and closing the holding circuit for relay 94. The holding circuit for relay 94 is carried through the contacts 100 of a normally closed relay 101' through leads 102 and 96. One side of the coil of relay 101 is tapped into lead 102 and the other side is carried through a conditioning switch 103 which is mechanically actuated by means of a timing cam 104 and a follead or 111 simultaneously rather than alternately. Assuming that switch 109 is open, as would be required for the drawing of Fig. 1, then the circuit is conditioned when the switch 103 is closed by cam 104 and the contacts 112 of switch 108are closed to detect a grounded heddle in the front bank. In the event one or more heddles of the front bank are grounded, relay 101 will be energized to open contacts 100, thus opening the holding circuit for relay 94 which stops motor 90 by breaking the circuit thereto and de-energizing brake solenoid 115 on the, motor. This in turn clamps the armature of motor 90 through brake shoes 116. Where all of the heddles 66 and 67 operate in unison, switch 109 will be closed and lead 107 grounded if any one of the stop motion heddles is not raised by its associated pile yarn or yarns. The individual heddles, particularly in the form of Fig. 7, are extremely light and do not affect proper shedding by pile yarn harnesses. The system is extremely versatile and is found to be very elfective for use in wide carpet looms using heavy pile yarn.

A modified arrangement for the heddles as well as. a slightly modified form of heddle is illustrated in Figs. 9-13 asinstalled on a conventional loom having an oscillating lay which carries a reed 121. The pile yarns 122 and 123 are supplied from beam 124 and are laced through a tensioning cradle or jumbo 125. The binder warps 126 and 127 are supplied from beam 128 and are tensioned by jumbo 129. The conventional lease rods 130, 130 are used for the binder warps, but the stufler warps" have been omitted in the interests of clarity. The lay 120 is actuated from the loom crankshaft through links 136' and links 137, 138. The woven fabric F is carried over the breast plate 139 by pin take-up roller 140. Pile yarns 122 are drawn through and controlled by harness 141 and pile yarns 123 are controlled by harness 142. Binder warps 126 and'127 are controlled by harnesses 143 and 144 respectively. These harnesses reciprocate vertically to form the various sheds in the weaving operation as described in connection with Fig.1 and are well known in the art.

, Thev pile yarns 122 and 123 are also threaded through the longslot of a group or series of stop motion heddles 151 positioned closely adjacent the back chain harness 144. Heddles 151 (Fig. 14) are somewhat similar to heddles 36 in that they are equipped with the same. contact plate 152 having the biased upper terminus 153'. Theslot 150 in the heddles 151 is somewhat shorter than the slot 35 in heddles 36'due to the fact that the maximum. positions of the shed are spaced closer together in the stop motion position of Fig. 9 than in the position of Fig. 1. The heddles 151 are supported by a contact element 154, which extends through. the slots of plates 152 in precisely the same manner as described previously in connection with Figs. 1 and 2. However, the bottoms of heddles 151' carry an elongated slot or eye 155 through which a bar or, strip 156 (Fig- 10) is inserted to act asa guide for the heddles.

7 Figs. 10 and 11 illustrate the details ,of the construction of the stop motion mechanism of Fig. 9. Upper contact element 154 is secured to the loom frame 157 in brackets 158 and 159. Bar 156' is secured to the loom frame 157jb y' means of brackets 160 and cotter'pins-161.

Bracliets 1581and 159 support dielectric blocks 162;and 163 respectively by means of setscrews 164, 164. *"The blocks support contact element 154 and electrically insulate-it from the loom frame. Electrical lead 165 is connected to the contact strip .166 by means t abinding post 167 and insulated bushing 168. The housing 169 is connected to a lead 170 through a setscrew 171 (Fig. 12) having a nut 172. In this manner no ground circuit is used since the housing 169 is completely insulated from the loom frame as well as from the contact strip 166.

In operation, electrical current from a source 175 is carriedto transformer 176 through double pole switch 177-. High tension current forthe-loom motor 178 is tapped-into leads 179 and 180 through thecontacts 181 and 182 of triple contact relay 183. Motor 178 is supplied with a solenoid. and toggle-actuated brake similar to that shown in Fig. 8. A'solenoid 184is tapped into the motor line and when de-energized permits the brake shoes 185 and 186 to quickly stop the armature of the motor. The circuit in Fig. 15 is conditioned by means of a cam 190 attached to the shaft 135. A cam follower 191 is positioned to close a switch 192 when depressed by cam 190. This switch is closed when either pile yarns 122 or 123 are in a maximum top shed position, thus holding all of the heddles 151 in an elevated position shown in Fig. 13 so that there is no contact between the biased slot terminus 153 and contact strip 166. As pre: viously described in connection with Fig. 8, a start and stop switch 193 is connected to the low side of transformer 176 through leads 194 and 195. When the start button 196 is depressed, relay 183 is energized through leads 197 and 198. A holding circuit through relay 199 is completed through contacts 200, leads 197, 201, and 202. The coil of relay 199 is connected to housing 169 through lead 170 and to lead 202'through lead 203. It will be apparent "that-when switch 192 is closed by cam 190, relay 199 which is normally closed will not be energized unless there is a broken pile yarn or slack pile yarn which permits the circuit to be closed by one of the heddles. In the event such condition occurs, relay 199 is energized to open the holding circuit through lead 201, thus opening relay 183 and stopping the motor 178.

In the form of Fig. 9, it will be observed that the yarn travel in the slot in the stop motion heddle 151 is substantially less than is the case with heddle 36. Furthermore, both warps 122 and 123 are drawn through the same heddle 151 so that they cross each other invslot 150. The form of Fig. 9 requires only half as many stop motion heddles as the, form of Fig. 1, but under some conditions" it may be undesirable to have two pile yarns working in opposite directions .in the same heddle slot. Furthermore, it has been foundthat the construction of 1 Fig. 1 may be more sensitive than that of Fig. 9. In any case the selection of stop motion heddle and its location as well as the particular type of circuit depends on the type and size of the loom as well as the weave ofthe fabric and the pile yarn being utilized. The device has been found to be accurate, eflicient, and requiresa minimum of maintenance.

Having thus described our invention, we claim:

1. In a weaving loom having a plurality of shed forming harnesses, a stop motion assembly comprising a series of drop wire heddles for the warp yarns'in said loom, an elongated slot in each heddle through which a warp yarn is drawn said slot being of suflicient length to eliminate inter-actuation of the heddle and the warp yarn passing through said slot except when a taut warp yarn is in a fully raised shed position, a support for said heddles adjacent one of said shed forming harnesses, an extension on each of said heddles, and electrical circuit means cyclically connected to said extension on each heddle to complete a circuit and stop the loom in the event the heddle is not elevated when a warp shed is formed to its maximum position.

'2. Apparatus in accordance with 'claim '1 in which the support is positioned in back of the rear shedfforming harness. f' f] 3. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1 in which the support is located in front of the :front shed forming harness.

4. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1 having a guide cable stretched through the bottom of the slot 'in each heddle and anchored to the loom. 5. In a weaving loom having a plurality of shed forming harnesses, a stop motion assembly comprising a series of drop wire heddles for the warp yarns in said loom, an

elongated slot in each heddle through which a warp yarn is'drawn said slot being of sufficient length to eliminate inter-actuation of the heddle and the-warp yarn passing through said slot except when a taut warp yarn is in a fully raised shed position, a first extension on each of said heddles to maintain the heddles in relative alignment with respect to each other, a stationary support for the heddles adjacent one of said shed forming harnesses, a second extension on each of said heddles, and electrical circuit means cyclically connected to said extension on each heddle to complete a circuit and stop the loom in the event the heddle is not elevated when a warp shed is formed to its maximum position.

6. Apparatus in accordance with claim 5 in which the lower extension comprises a slotted eye, and a bar extending through the slotted lower eye of each heddle and anchoredon the loom.

7. Apparatus in accordance with claim 5 in which the lower extension comprises a guide rod.

8. Apparatus in accordance with claim 5 having a guide cable stretched through the bottom of the slot in each heddle and anchored to the loom.

9. In a weaving loom having a plurality of shed forming harnesses, a stop motion assembly comprising a series of drop wire heddles for the warp yarns in said loom, an elongated slot in each heddle through which a warp yarn is drawn said slot being of suflicient length and electrical circuit means cyclically connected to said' extension on each heddle to complete a circuit and stop the loom in the event the heddle is not elevated when a warp shed is formed to its maximum position.

10. In a weaving loom having a motor and aplurality of shed forming harnesses, a stop motion assembly for a weaving loom comprising a plurality of drop wire heddles mounted in the loom in the shed area, an elongated slot in each heddle of a length determined substantially by maximum and minimum shed positions, guide means for maintaining alignment of said heddles at the bottom of each heddle, a contact element supporting and enclosed by the top of each heddle, a timing cam driven by the loom for conditioning a circuit through the said contact element, and means including relays for stopping the loom motor in the event a heddle remains supported on the contact element when said circuit is conditioned.

11. Apparatus in accordance with claim 10in which the guide means comprises an extension below the slotted eye.

12. Apparatus in accordance with claim 10 having 'a plurality of heddles mounted on the loom in front of the front loom harness.

13. Apparatus in accordance with claim 10 having a plurality of heddles mounted on the loom in back of the back loom harness.

14. In a weaving loom the combination which comprises at least two harnesses for forming warps intosheds by alternately raising and lowering warp ends, a.

slotted; drop wire heddle through which each pairjof said warp pileends is drawn, means supporting each of said heddles adjacent one of said harnesses, and means associated with each of said slotted heddles for stopping said loom when, said slotted heddle is not elevated to a predetermined position by one of said warp pile ends when the pile harnesses reverse.

15. In a weaving loom the combination which cornprises a reed, means for oscillating said reed from a retr acted position to a position adjacent the fell of a fabric beingwoven in the loom, at least two harnesses for forming warps into sheds by alternately raising and lowering warp ends, a slotted drop wire heddle through which each pair of said warp pile ends is drawn, means supporting each of said heddles between one of said harnesses and 15 2,690,771

the. reed, and means associated" with each of saidslotted heddles for stopping said: loom when said; slotted heddie is'notelevated to a predetermined position by one of said warp. pile ends when the pile harnesses reverse.

References Cited in thefile of. this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Consoletti .Oct. 5, 1954 

